Rolling Pin Rings

When you want to achieve an even thickness for pastry or dough, a rolling pin is going to be the only way to go. Because it covers a much larger area than your palms or fingers can, it is not only easier to stretch out your dough, but it is easier to evenly distribute pressure over the dough and make sure it’s an even thickness. The only problem arises when you want to achieve a particular thickness – as many recipes call for to ensure consistent and even baking – and a rolling pin alone doesn’t give you any indication of when to stop rolling.

One possible solution is to have a ruler on hand to give you a general indication of when your dough is 1/4-inch thick, or when your puff pastry is 1/8-inch thick, eventually learning to “eyeball it” through trial and error. Another, easier, solution is to keep a set of Rolling Pin Rings with your pin. These rings are similar to rubber bands, but less elastic and much thicker. They will slide over the ends of almost any rolling pin, giving you a handy measure of thickness to compare your dough to; when they’re in place, the rings prevent the rolling pin from rolling the dough any thinner. The set includes 4 pairs of rings that measure 3/8-inch, 1/4-inch, 1/8-inch and 1/16-inch.

These sound like a good idea, but I wonder what happens when the dough you are rolling is wider than the rolling pin. Wouldn’t the rings leave indentations, defeating what they are supposed to do? The only way I can see these working are 1)If the dough is narrower than your rolling pin or 2)You have a REALLY long rolling pin.

I was wondering the same thing that Karen brought up. Some recipes I use call for dough that does not need to be as wide as my rolling pin. Other things I make, I end up rolling the pin every which way over the dough to get it rolled out and the end result does need to be wider than that pin.

I still may pick these up though. It seems it won’t solve all my uneven dough problems but it can help with some.